Dec200612

Any reservation or quota of seats for higher studies or professional courses is against human rights and human dignity. This kind of reservation reinforces the caste system already prevailing in the Indian society and encourages discrimination among fellow countrymen. The quota system not only degenerates the professional expertise available for the public in various fields, it also deprives the meritorious and qualified students from joining higher professional courses, as there are only limited seats everywhere. Even increasing the number of seats does not justify reservation in any way; as those additional seats also need to be filled up on the basis of merit, and not on the students name or surname denoting ‘caste’. In no civilized country can we find such shameless game of politics tampering with the standard of education and quality of professional services.

The Supreme Court in its recent verdict had categorically mentioned that the ‘creamy layer’ of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), in other words the richer of the so-called backward classes should be kept outside the purview of reservation. It may be added here that two thirds of the population of India belong to the backward classes. Again, ironically the majority of the landed property of India belongs to the rich Yadavs or Jats, who are categorized as ‘other backward classes’. They are rich zamindars. Our Prime Minister ignored the Steering Committee reports and went against the Supreme Court verdict when he included the OBC among the underprivileged. If this ‘creamy Layer’ were included for the purpose of reservation, no one from the really poor class would get any benefit. In view of the ensuing elections the government has passed the reservation bill on December 14, 2006, ignoring the views of millions of responsible citizens of India. It is a shame that when our neighbor Pakistan is trying its best to rise above religious rigidity and fanaticism, our ministers are trying to take India backward. Those who play such dirty game in the name of politics and divide our country further on the basis of caste and creed are enemies of the nation.

To uplift the underprivileged, more schools, colleges and vocational training centers may be made available to them. Depriving deserving candidates and thus lowering the standards of the professionals is not the answer. Those who cannot go for higher studies due to economic reasons may be helped financially and not on the basis of ‘caste’. After 58 years of independence the word ‘caste’ would have become obsolete had due importance been given to merit and ability in all fields.

All the Rationalists and Humanists of India including the stalwart Mr. Prabir Ghosh strongly support the view of Mr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta , erstwhile member of the National Knowledge Commission who resigned in protest saying that this measure (reservation) will forever keep our country entrapped in the caste paradigm. Our government is shamelessly resorting to ‘tokenism’ rather than ‘social justice’.